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American Political Campaign Attack AdsNegative Campaigning in Presidential Elections on Television
Tired of watching politicians attack each other with negative advertisements? Here's a brief history of presidential election television attack ads in the United States.
Attack ads --sometimes called negative campaigning or mudslinging -- focus on the negative qualities of the candidate's opponent. These have become commonplace in campaigns, but this hasn't always been the case. Ads in the 1950s and 1960sEarly presidential ads were similar to television ads for other kinds of "products." The candidates' names were repeated often and as part of jingles and slogans. Often, cartoons were used, which was a common advertisisng technique during the 1950s and 1960s. The Daisy Girl AdIn 1964, Lyndon Johnson ran the "Daisy Girl" ad. This featured a girl counting pedals on a daisy, which was followed by a countdown as the camera zoomed into her eye. This was followed by a nuclear explosion. Then, with the firestorm as the backdrop, Johnson states, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." The Daisy Girl ad ran only once. Since then, negative campaigning has been commonplace. The Willie Horton AdThroughout the 1970s and 1980s, negative ads were ubiquitous, although they were often less effective than positive ads such as Reagan's "It's Morning in America" ads, which relied on images of idyllic American life. One candidate who relied heavily on negative campaigning was George H.W. Bush. His most famous attack ad was the "Willie Horton" ad, which accused opponent Michael Dukakis of being soft on crime. Willie Horton was a felon who was let out of prison under Governor Dukakis' furlough program, and while out of prison, he raped and brutalized several people. These ads were very effective, but have been accused of provoking voters' racism by plastering the intimidating mug shot of an African-American rapist across the screen. The Swift Boat Ads Congress tried to limit attack ads with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 1992. This is the legislation that requires candidates to say, "I'm (candidate X) and I approve this message." The hope was that this would discourage mudslinging. However, what occurred was an increase in political ads by lobbyist groups on behalf of candidates that were especially virulent. These ads are sometimes known as "Swift Boat Ads" because of ads created by a group called Swift Boat Veterans Against Kerry in 2004, which attacked John Kerry's military record The 3:00 a.m. Red Phone AdDuring the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton ran the "3:00 a.m. Red Phone Ad," which was an attack on her opponent Barack Obama's lack of experience. The ad showed a mother checking in on her sleeping children, while at the White House, a red phone rings because there is a crisis. At 3:00 a.m., said the narrator, wouldn't you want someone with experience to be at the White House to answer the call? This ad backfired. Barack Obama quickly created a counter-ad that stated if the red phone rang at the White House, someone should answer it who had the judgment to oppose the War in Iraq from day one, which Obama did and Clinton did not. The Future of Attack AdsAmericans report in poll after poll that they are sick of attack ads. On the other hand, these ads often can be effective. For the time being, if the 2008 presidential election has been any indication, no one is ready to abandon the practice of negative campaigning.
The copyright of the article American Political Campaign Attack Ads in US Elections is owned by Naomi Rockler-Gladen. Permission to republish American Political Campaign Attack Ads in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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